It's Time - a McRoll in the REAL World story by Sammy & Mari
by Mari217
Summary: Angie lets her parents know - with her usual gusto - she's hit another milestone!


**Sammy's Notes:** _Mari & Ilna Thank you for everything! You guys are the BEST!_

_REAL Worlders-you guys are awesome. Thanks for all the support and encouragement._

**Mari's notes:** _Sammy & Ilna - Love you guys to the moon! One for all and all for one._

_Sammy, it's always a delight and so much fun collaborating with you!_

_REAL McRollers & Readers - hugs and love, always._

_This one's for my sweetie, Ryan, because his great escape attempt prompted this idea. Nonna Mari loves you._

* * *

**It's Time (1/1)**

Catherine's eyes opened and she pulled back slightly mid-kiss. "Hmm, wait."

"What?" Steve pushed up on his elbows and blinked down at her. "What's wron …"

Before he could finish his question he heard a repeat of what she had.

When "Ugnh, mfnp," came through the baby monitor, followed by a series of grunts, he pecked Catherine's lips and rolled over, grabbing for the shorts on the bedside chair.

"I'll go." He nodded for her to stay in bed, but she was already tugging on sleep shorts and a tank because Cammie, who'd gone ahead to check, let out a sharp bark that had both parents running.

The sight that greeted them had them saying, "Good girl, Cammie" and "Angie!" as the dog backed away from the crib upon their arrival.

There, in her _The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday _jammies, was their wide awake daughter, looking at them from a skewed angle. Angie was partially sideways, one tiny foot up. She was trying, as she had before, to sling one foot over the crib rail.

She'd gotten very, very close because she'd piled every book she could squeeze through the bars from her nearby bookshelf to use as a stepping stone.

"Dada! Out!" she announced when Steve scooped her into his arms. Right side up again, she waved. "Mama! Hi, Mama."

"Angie, sweetie..." Catherine glanced at Steve whose expression was one of relief as he hugged their little girl. "You can't climb out yourself, baby girl." She took the toddler from Steve and kissed the sleep-tousled curls. "You could fall and get a big boo boo."

"Boo boo?"

"Mommy's right," Steve ran a hand over her hair. "You could get big boo boo if you fall." His eyes returned to Catherine's and the look of fear that had crossed his face was replaced by one of pride. As he removed the pile of books, some others that were within reach of the crib and those that had landed on the floor when they were too large to be pulled through the bars, he placed them on the shelf on the opposite side of the room and said, "She knew she needed more elevation so she used the books as a step."

Catherine sat down in the rocking chair and murmured softly to Angie in an attempt to soothe her back into sleep mode. When she looked up she saw Steve focused on the book shelf. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

He extracted one book from the pile. _Stack the Cats_ by Susie Ghahramani. It was a little 'old' for Angie, aimed at 3-5 year olds, but Kaitlyn had fallen in love with it when she saw it at the library used book sale and wanted to get it for Angie. Steve had read it to her several times in the last week.

"This book is for 3-5 year olds but she totally understands it." He opened the book to an illustration that showed an ever growing stack of cats. "She applied what she saw in the book in order to achieve her desired result."

Catherine smiled softly. "I think you might be getting a little ahead of yourself."

Steve looked at her with a crooked grin. "Your lips might say that but you can't fool me, Lieutenant. I see the pride in your eyes."

"Fine," Catherine admitted. "It was pretty advanced planning from a 22 month old."

"She's brilliant," Steve said proudly.

Catherine stroked her daughter's soft baby curls as the toddler's eyelids drooped. "Yes, she is."

She pressed her lips together as she placed their daughter back in the crib and bent to kiss Cammie who reveled in some love and hugs. "Thank you, pretty girl. You always do such a good job." She looked up. "And you, before you start thinking she's gonna be the first woman to graduate BUD/S, I think Angie just determined what we're doing tomorrow…" She glanced at the glowing baby dolphin clock that read 12:10 a.m. "Well, today." She waved a hand over the crib.

"Converting to a toddler bed." Steve completed her thought. "Because our daughter is clearly a brilliant strategist." He bent to kiss Angie after Catherine had done the same. The toddler's escapade behind her, she was snuggled on her side, eyes closed. Shaking his head in wonder, he mused, "She surveyed the situation and built a launch point. She's got your head for strategy."

Leaning up to kiss his cheek, Catherine smiled. "Maybe, but attempting to fling herself out of the crib? Once again, that's all you." Her chuckle made him grin. "C'mon, Commander, we have a situation in the other room I wanna finish _surveying_."

With a look back at their sleeping toddler, Steve snaked an arm around Catherine's waist as they left Angie's room. "Aye, aye, Lieutenant, we did fail to complete an operation of our own."

* * *

After a brief flirtation with a princess bed, Steve and Catherine settled on a bed with a gray tufted, upholstered headboard and footboard and white slat side rails that Angie hopped onto immediately upon seeing it in the showroom.

Steve and Catherine spent 45 minutes checking into the safety aspects of the bed. The crystal 'buttons' on the tufting were double welded in place to assure they couldn't come off and be inadvertently swallowed. The spacing of the slats insured Angie's little arms and legs wouldn't get stuck. When all of their questions were answered and the bed was deemed safe and got Angie's seal of approval, the decision was made.

"If you'd like to look at some sheets for the new bed, they're over there." The sales associate pointed them towards an aisle of sheets in every color and more patterns than they could count.

Angie gravitated immediately towards a blue set adorned with butterflies. They chose the correct size and carried them to the counter.

"You might need more than one set," the woman behind the counter suggested. "Kids go through sheets pretty fast."

Catherine smiled. "Thanks but my mother lives close by so…"

"Say no more," the woman laughed. "I have a four year old. The UPS man is at our house so often my son calls him Uncle Leo."

Catherine smiled as Steve handed over his credit card. They completed the transaction and headed for the store's loading dock to pick up the bed.

"Are we ready for this?" Catherine asked as Steve loaded the box containing the unassembled bed into the back of the truck.

"I think we have to be." He closed the tailgate. "Because who knows what plan our daughter would come up with next to get out of her crib."

* * *

With Steve and Catherine working together the assembly of the bed went smoothly. As they were tightening the last of the screws and checking to make sure everything was put together correctly they heard the door downstairs open.

"That must be mom," Catherine said.

Steve looked at his watch. "Three hours at the mall." He chuckled. "We might be in trouble."

Catherine called, "We're in Angie's room!" when she heard her mother's greeting.

"Ama!" Angie ran for her grandma when she came through the baby gate at the top of the stairs, chattering excitedly. "Ahh ba Dada big ohh bed!" She pointed to where Steve was tightening the bolts on her newly converted bed rail. "See!" She gave a little hop before turning to point.

"I do see, sweetheart." Elizabeth placed the bags she was carrying on the floor and knelt to hug her granddaughter. "You have a big girl bed!"

Steve stood and cleared his throat, an amused smile on his lips. "I wonder what your grandma has in all those bags?"

"Just a few little things to celebrate a very important milestone." Elizabeth's smile was wide and unrepentant.

Catherine peeked into the bags. "Mom!"

"I couldn't decide." Elizabeth shrugged. "And they were on sale."

Catherine arched an eyebrow. "Buy one get four free?"

"A girl likes to have choices." Elizabeth smiled as she pulled out an off-white sheet set covered in brightly colored rocking horses, a pink sheet set covered in dogs and puppies, a solid colored set in soft violet, a set of princess sheets, and a gray set covered in various zoo animals.

Angie squealed with excitement and picked up the zoo animal set. "Gi-waffes."

"And all the animals from the zoo." Elizabeth pointed to the elephants and the tigers.

"What do you say to Ama?" Catherine asked.

"Tank-oo!" Angie threw her arms around her grandmother's neck.

"You're very welcome, angel." Elizabeth returned the hug.

"I know Danny says you can't spoil babies, but she's not a baby anymore," Catherine pointed out.

Elizabeth beamed at her granddaughter who had pushed all the sheet sets aside and was currently trying to climb into the large paper shopping bag. "Look at her," she chuckled. "Her head isn't exactly being turned by all her 'stuff'." She made air quotes. "She's more interested in the bag."

"Ama! 'Ook!" she giggled right before both she and the bag tumbled over. When she hit the floor she scrambled back to her feet and threw her arms in the air.

Elizabeth beamed. "TADA!"

Catherine and Steve shared an amused look. It was true that to this point Angie wasn't showing any signs of entitlement or bratty behavior but it was something they were ever vigilant about watching for.

"You're incorrigible," Catherine sighed.

"If there's one thing I've learned in my years of working with kids," Elizabeth said, "It's that things don't spoil children, attitudes do. Angie has a sweet, empathetic, giving heart. Possessions aren't what make her happy."

"You're right. Yet buying her things does seem to make you happy," she teased.

Elizabeth grinned. "It's one of the ironies of grandmotherhood. And these…" she pulled two little comforters from another bag, "are reversible, and they match the sheets, so I really couldn't pass them up."

Catherine looked skeptical. "Couldn't? Or didn't want to?"

Elizabeth grinned. "Po-tay-to. Po-tah-to."

Angie had moved on from playing with the bag and was now stacking her new sheets sets in the center of the room.

"No climbing on those, Ms. Knievel," Catherine told her.

"I can't help but notice there's another bag," Steve said as he placed the last of the tools back in the tool box.

"Well obviously a big girl bed calls for some new big girl jammies," Elizabeth pulled several sets of two-piece pajamas consisting of a t-shirt and sleep shorts out of the bag. A white set covered in giraffes and zebras, a purple set emblazoned with a large cartoon dog wearing sunglasses, and a blue set covered in palm trees and pineapples.

"Is that everything?" Catherine asked.

"No," Elizabeth replied. "I have some more sheets, comforters and pajamas in the car. Angie and I are going to take them to the domestic abuse shelter supply drive next week along with a bag of clothes I got cleaning out my closet and whatever you have that doesn't fit her anymore."

Catherine smiled at her mother. "You make it very hard to get mad at you."

Elizabeth winked at her then turned to Angie. "Let me see how Ama's big girl can get into her new bed. I need to take some pictures to show Apa and Grandma Ang when they get back from their tour of Pearl with Grandma Ang's seniors group. They'll be so excited."

**THE END **_Thanks for reading!_

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